Maybe I was getting 3200 miles per week and home every weekend while the other
person was getting 1800 miles per week and only allowed to go home every other
weekend.

Nobody will have more of an influence on your success as a driver than your dispatcher.
He or she can be your best friend, worst enemy, or anything in between, sometimes all in
the same DAY!!! Of course I can be that way too and without a doubt there have been a
number of times I've brought that upon myself.

But hey, I'm not on trial here so get off my back!!

No, seriously though you will find out that you control your own destiny to a very large
extent. Pretty soon I'll show you how.

obody will have more of an influence on your success as a driver than your dispatcher.
He or she can be your best friend, worst enemy, or anything in between, sometimes all in
the same DAY!!!

For now, let's start with what exactly your dispatcher does. A dispatcher's duties will vary
greatly from company to company. In a smaller company a dispatcher will have a lot more
control and authority than in a larger company, generally speaking of course.

First and foremost though your dispatcher will be the number one day to day contact
point you will have with your company. Almost every single time you call or message
your company it will be directed to your dispatcher.

You will deal directly with each other one on one but you will not be the only driver your
dispatcher will be handling. He or she will have anywhere from 5 to 60 different drivers
on their “board”. A dispatcher's board is simply the group of drivers he/she is handling at
any given time.

If someone else's dispatcher calls in sick you may find that your dispatcher will have to
cover his or her board that day and it will likely take you longer to get replies to your
messages.

Your dispatcher's first duty is to exchange information with you. All of your load
information will be given to you by your dispatcher. Any questions, problems, or concerns
you have will be directed back to him or her. Basically all of your normal, everyday
communication with your company will be with dispatch.

Dispatchers usually have the lowest level of authority within the company's office.

At times you will need someone with more authority or you may have an issue with your
dispatcher personally and you need to talk with someone higher up. We'll cover those things
in a little while.

Dispatchers usually have the lowest level of authority within the company's office. Some
dispatchers will also handle the “load planning” which means deciding which drivers get
which loads each day. Often times in smaller companies the dispatcher will have this
authority. In larger companies they may or may not.

Often times a larger company will have a dedicated group of people, we'll call them “load
planners” that decide which drivers get which loads but the information is actually given to
the driver by the dispatcher, not the load planner. I have worked within both systems and
always found that the more authority my dispatcher had the better things went for me.

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TruckingTruth was founded by Brett Aquila (that's me!), a 15 year truck driving veteran, in January 2007. After 15 years on the road I wanted to help people understand the trucking industry and everything that came with the career and lifestyle of an over the road trucker. We'll help you make the right choices and prepare for a great start to your trucking career.

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Becoming A Truck Driver is a dream we've all pondered at some point in our lives. We've all wondered if the adventure and challenges of life on the open road would suit us better than the ordinary day to day lives we've always known. At TruckingTruth we'll help you decide if trucking is right for you and help you get your career off to a great start.